Customer Reviews

The Haunted Monastery and the Chinese Maze Murders

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Robert Van Gulik evidently had a lot of fun translating "Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee"; when he couldn't find any more Judge Dee mysteries, he decided to write his own. "The Haunted Monastery" takes place during one night (appropriately dark and stormy) in a Buddhist monastery where several young girls have disappeared without a trace; among the characters are a Taoist sage, a dissolute abbot, a performing bear, and a female impersonator, all set against a backdrop of dark winding corridors, secret rooms and a version of the Taoist Hell. By morning the storm outside has abated, and the mystery inside has been solved. "The Chinese Maze Murders" involves an overgrown, impenetrable (literally and figuratively) garden maze, a painting with a secret clue that will give the key to how to reach the maze's center; two young sisters, and a particularly vile murderer who specializes in torturing and killing young ladies. Of the two, I thought "Monastery" was more fun, but both books are excellent examples of the Chinese mystery genre and Van Gulik succeeds in capturing the essence of the original Judge Dee. Of all Van Gulik's Judge Dee novels, "Monastery" and "Maze" come closest to the unknown Chinese author and are therefore, for this reviewer, his two best original books.

I've read all of the Judge Dee Mysteries and this double novel is one of the best. The Haunted Monastery gives fans a fascinating glimpse into Judge Dee's family life, including relationships among his three wives. The plots all revolve around the loves and mores of the Chinese upper and lower classes. The Chinese Maze Murders follows Judge Dee's dangerous attempt to end a criminal overlord's stranglehold on the Judge's new district of Lan-fang. The story of how Judge Dee out maneuvers this ruthless godfather and his hidden backers provides an excellent read. Don't miss this economically priced complete edition of two of the best Judge Dee mysteries

A word to the wise, I hope, read the foreword and postscript to "The Chinese Maze Murders" first, even before "The Haunted Monastery". If you don't you may think you are reading a modern, (nineteenth or twentieth century) Chinese novel. There are both glaring and minor differences in style and content, multiple wives glossed over, combined judge, jury and prosecutor in one person, and other differences, only explained in the passages cited. But both stories are excellent. Judge Dee lived from A. D. 730 to 800, the stories are written in the Chinese of the 1300 to 1400 T'ang Dynasties for the Chinese of the twentieth Century by the Ambassador and Sinologist Van Gulik but were so well received he copied them over for the Western World. And they are worth reading both as examples of Chinese mysteries and its closeness to Western ideas.
"The Haunted Monastery" starts our almost as a supernatural story but as the tale evolves the supernatural devices drain away until only the appearance of the one armed woman and her carrier need be explained. Dee shows his ability as a detective, finding due relationships where they exist and where he can;t find them continues anyhow until all is explained. His plodding on works, we are given his views and shown how he fits events into them until a whole is created, and then the trial. all the way to its final execution.
"The Chinese Maze Murders" is even more complicated. Politics is one of the reigning plot drivers here but even Judge Dee treads cautiously among this labyrinth. First there is the unmet new magistrate for Lanfan, then the double talking warden at the jail, followed by the inspection of the offices and finally the kicking out of the warden with the threat of return. Dee knows he has no military power nor training even if he had the power so he resorts to bluff. Chien Pow is quickly deprived of power and jailed. Trials are held and sentences executed, Judge Dee is the territorial ruler, back in the hands of the Imperial Power. Now he must solve the political killings, find the missing woman, jail the military deserters, reenlist the good soldiers who desire it, retain in his command those good ones who wish it, and in general straighten things out and then relax. This involves inheritance, and politics, Dee proves to have a good head for straightening this out, as well, for he manages to do so although difficult. I intend reading more Judge Dee stories for several reasons, first because they are good stories, and secondly to improve my understanding of Chinese historical justice, to see if there is any relationship to what is going on over there now.

The Haunted Monastery was one of the first of Dee's books I stumbled into while in highschool. Outstanding and complicated... full of period accurate and consistent elements that make it vastly superior to others of its kind... and sporting characters that you really begin to know.
Fans of the development of jurisprudence, whodunnits, and historical fiction simply must try one of these series IMHO... but there's no reason that journey must take place with these excellent stories (that actually take place well after key character establishment in the series): van Gulik's first 4 (and Dee Goong An, his initial experiment) are surprisingly great reading.